At 0620, three PBYs were ordered into the air on a routine submarine patrol that had nothing to do with any knowledge of an impending attack. One found a midget sub and helped the USS Ward to sink it. When the attack on Pearl Harbor started, they were diverted to search for the Japanese carriers. At 0700, four PBYs took off on a training mission with submarine USS Gudgeon off the island of Lanai. They, too, were diverted to search for Japanese carriers. One flew into a Japanese Val formation and managed to survive an air-to-air battle.
Eighteen unarmed SBDs from the USS Enterprise were unwittingly flown into battle (six were lost—one,
